diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 7534ae5590..e62b623b4e 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -115,6 +115,11 @@ repos:
     entry: python tools/check_spdx_header.py
     language: python
     types: [python]
+  - id: check-root-lazy-imports
+    name: Check root lazy imports
+    entry: python tools/check_init_lazy_imports.py
+    language: python
+    types: [python]
   - id: check-filenames
     name: Check for spaces in all filenames
     entry: bash
diff --git a/tools/check_init_lazy_imports.py b/tools/check_init_lazy_imports.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e8e6f07cc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/check_init_lazy_imports.py
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
+"""Ensure we perform lazy loading in vllm/__init__.py.
+i.e: appears only within the ``if typing.TYPE_CHECKING:`` guard,
+**except** for a short whitelist.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import ast
+import pathlib
+import sys
+from collections.abc import Iterable
+from typing import Final
+
+REPO_ROOT: Final = pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+INIT_PATH: Final = REPO_ROOT / "vllm" / "__init__.py"
+
+# If you need to add items to whitelist, do it here.
+ALLOWED_IMPORTS: Final[frozenset[str]] = frozenset({
+    "vllm.env_override",
+})
+ALLOWED_FROM_MODULES: Final[frozenset[str]] = frozenset({
+    ".version",
+})
+
+
+def _is_internal(name: str | None, *, level: int = 0) -> bool:
+    if level > 0:
+        return True
+    if name is None:
+        return False
+    return name.startswith("vllm.") or name == "vllm"
+
+
+def _fail(violations: Iterable[tuple[int, str]]) -> None:
+    print("ERROR: Disallowed eager imports in vllm/__init__.py:\n",
+          file=sys.stderr)
+    for lineno, msg in violations:
+        print(f"  Line {lineno}: {msg}", file=sys.stderr)
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+
+def main() -> None:
+    source = INIT_PATH.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    tree = ast.parse(source, filename=str(INIT_PATH))
+
+    violations: list[tuple[int, str]] = []
+
+    class Visitor(ast.NodeVisitor):
+
+        def __init__(self) -> None:
+            super().__init__()
+            self._in_type_checking = False
+
+        def visit_If(self, node: ast.If) -> None:
+            guard_is_type_checking = False
+            test = node.test
+            if isinstance(test, ast.Attribute) and isinstance(
+                    test.value, ast.Name):
+                guard_is_type_checking = (test.value.id == "typing"
+                                          and test.attr == "TYPE_CHECKING")
+            elif isinstance(test, ast.Name):
+                guard_is_type_checking = test.id == "TYPE_CHECKING"
+
+            if guard_is_type_checking:
+                prev = self._in_type_checking
+                self._in_type_checking = True
+                for child in node.body:
+                    self.visit(child)
+                self._in_type_checking = prev
+                for child in node.orelse:
+                    self.visit(child)
+            else:
+                self.generic_visit(node)
+
+        def visit_Import(self, node: ast.Import) -> None:
+            if self._in_type_checking:
+                return
+            for alias in node.names:
+                module_name = alias.name
+                if _is_internal(
+                        module_name) and module_name not in ALLOWED_IMPORTS:
+                    violations.append((
+                        node.lineno,
+                        f"import '{module_name}' must be inside typing.TYPE_CHECKING",  # noqa: E501
+                    ))
+
+        def visit_ImportFrom(self, node: ast.ImportFrom) -> None:
+            if self._in_type_checking:
+                return
+            module_as_written = ("." * node.level) + (node.module or "")
+            if _is_internal(
+                    node.module, level=node.level
+            ) and module_as_written not in ALLOWED_FROM_MODULES:
+                violations.append((
+                    node.lineno,
+                    f"from '{module_as_written}' import ... must be inside typing.TYPE_CHECKING",  # noqa: E501
+                ))
+
+    Visitor().visit(tree)
+
+    if violations:
+        _fail(violations)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()
diff --git a/vllm/__init__.py b/vllm/__init__.py
index 6232b657e8..7b90fd3a24 100644
--- a/vllm/__init__.py
+++ b/vllm/__init__.py
@@ -1,29 +1,72 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
 """vLLM: a high-throughput and memory-efficient inference engine for LLMs"""
+
 # The version.py should be independent library, and we always import the
 # version library first.  Such assumption is critical for some customization.
 from .version import __version__, __version_tuple__  # isort:skip
 
+import typing
+
 # The environment variables override should be imported before any other
 # modules to ensure that the environment variables are set before any
 # other modules are imported.
-import vllm.env_override  # isort:skip  # noqa: F401
+import vllm.env_override  # noqa: F401
+
+MODULE_ATTRS = {
+    "AsyncEngineArgs": ".engine.arg_utils:AsyncEngineArgs",
+    "EngineArgs": ".engine.arg_utils:EngineArgs",
+    "AsyncLLMEngine": ".engine.async_llm_engine:AsyncLLMEngine",
+    "LLMEngine": ".engine.llm_engine:LLMEngine",
+    "LLM": ".entrypoints.llm:LLM",
+    "initialize_ray_cluster": ".executor.ray_utils:initialize_ray_cluster",
+    "PromptType": ".inputs:PromptType",
+    "TextPrompt": ".inputs:TextPrompt",
+    "TokensPrompt": ".inputs:TokensPrompt",
+    "ModelRegistry": ".model_executor.models:ModelRegistry",
+    "SamplingParams": ".sampling_params:SamplingParams",
+    "PoolingParams": ".pooling_params:PoolingParams",
+    "ClassificationOutput": ".outputs:ClassificationOutput",
+    "ClassificationRequestOutput": ".outputs:ClassificationRequestOutput",
+    "CompletionOutput": ".outputs:CompletionOutput",
+    "EmbeddingOutput": ".outputs:EmbeddingOutput",
+    "EmbeddingRequestOutput": ".outputs:EmbeddingRequestOutput",
+    "PoolingOutput": ".outputs:PoolingOutput",
+    "PoolingRequestOutput": ".outputs:PoolingRequestOutput",
+    "RequestOutput": ".outputs:RequestOutput",
+    "ScoringOutput": ".outputs:ScoringOutput",
+    "ScoringRequestOutput": ".outputs:ScoringRequestOutput",
+}
+
+if typing.TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from vllm.engine.arg_utils import AsyncEngineArgs, EngineArgs
+    from vllm.engine.async_llm_engine import AsyncLLMEngine
+    from vllm.engine.llm_engine import LLMEngine
+    from vllm.entrypoints.llm import LLM
+    from vllm.executor.ray_utils import initialize_ray_cluster
+    from vllm.inputs import PromptType, TextPrompt, TokensPrompt
+    from vllm.model_executor.models import ModelRegistry
+    from vllm.outputs import (ClassificationOutput,
+                              ClassificationRequestOutput, CompletionOutput,
+                              EmbeddingOutput, EmbeddingRequestOutput,
+                              PoolingOutput, PoolingRequestOutput,
+                              RequestOutput, ScoringOutput,
+                              ScoringRequestOutput)
+    from vllm.pooling_params import PoolingParams
+    from vllm.sampling_params import SamplingParams
+else:
+
+    def __getattr__(name: str) -> typing.Any:
+        from importlib import import_module
+
+        if name in MODULE_ATTRS:
+            module_name, attr_name = MODULE_ATTRS[name].split(":")
+            module = import_module(module_name, __package__)
+            return getattr(module, attr_name)
+        else:
+            raise AttributeError(
+                f'module {__package__} has no attribute {name}')
 
-from vllm.engine.arg_utils import AsyncEngineArgs, EngineArgs
-from vllm.engine.async_llm_engine import AsyncLLMEngine
-from vllm.engine.llm_engine import LLMEngine
-from vllm.entrypoints.llm import LLM
-from vllm.executor.ray_utils import initialize_ray_cluster
-from vllm.inputs import PromptType, TextPrompt, TokensPrompt
-from vllm.model_executor.models import ModelRegistry
-from vllm.outputs import (ClassificationOutput, ClassificationRequestOutput,
-                          CompletionOutput, EmbeddingOutput,
-                          EmbeddingRequestOutput, PoolingOutput,
-                          PoolingRequestOutput, RequestOutput, ScoringOutput,
-                          ScoringRequestOutput)
-from vllm.pooling_params import PoolingParams
-from vllm.sampling_params import SamplingParams
 
 __all__ = [
     "__version__",
diff --git a/vllm/config.py b/vllm/config.py
index b8232aae70..7549c97b4f 100644
--- a/vllm/config.py
+++ b/vllm/config.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ from pydantic.dataclasses import dataclass
 from safetensors.torch import _TYPES as _SAFETENSORS_TO_TORCH_DTYPE
 from torch.distributed import ProcessGroup, ReduceOp
 from transformers import PretrainedConfig
-from typing_extensions import deprecated, runtime_checkable
+from typing_extensions import Self, deprecated, runtime_checkable
 
 import vllm.envs as envs
 from vllm import version
@@ -1537,7 +1537,6 @@ class CacheConfig:
     def __post_init__(self) -> None:
         self.swap_space_bytes = self.swap_space * GiB_bytes
 
-        self._verify_args()
         self._verify_cache_dtype()
         self._verify_prefix_caching()
 
@@ -1546,7 +1545,8 @@ class CacheConfig:
         # metrics info
         return {key: str(value) for key, value in self.__dict__.items()}
 
-    def _verify_args(self) -> None:
+    @model_validator(mode='after')
+    def _verify_args(self) -> Self:
         if self.cpu_offload_gb < 0:
             raise ValueError("CPU offload space must be non-negative"
                              f", but got {self.cpu_offload_gb}")
@@ -1556,6 +1556,8 @@ class CacheConfig:
                 "GPU memory utilization must be less than 1.0. Got "
                 f"{self.gpu_memory_utilization}.")
 
+        return self
+
     def _verify_cache_dtype(self) -> None:
         if self.cache_dtype == "auto":
             pass
@@ -1942,15 +1944,14 @@ class ParallelConfig:
         if self.distributed_executor_backend is None and self.world_size == 1:
             self.distributed_executor_backend = "uni"
 
-        self._verify_args()
-
     @property
     def use_ray(self) -> bool:
         return self.distributed_executor_backend == "ray" or (
             isinstance(self.distributed_executor_backend, type)
             and self.distributed_executor_backend.uses_ray)
 
-    def _verify_args(self) -> None:
+    @model_validator(mode='after')
+    def _verify_args(self) -> Self:
         # Lazy import to avoid circular import
         from vllm.executor.executor_base import ExecutorBase
         from vllm.platforms import current_platform
@@ -1977,8 +1978,7 @@ class ParallelConfig:
             raise ValueError("Unable to use nsight profiling unless workers "
                              "run with Ray.")
 
-        assert isinstance(self.worker_extension_cls, str), (
-            "worker_extension_cls must be a string (qualified class name).")
+        return self
 
 
 PreemptionMode = Literal["swap", "recompute"]
@@ -2202,9 +2202,8 @@ class SchedulerConfig:
                 self.max_num_partial_prefills, self.max_long_partial_prefills,
                 self.long_prefill_token_threshold)
 
-        self._verify_args()
-
-    def _verify_args(self) -> None:
+    @model_validator(mode='after')
+    def _verify_args(self) -> Self:
         if (self.max_num_batched_tokens < self.max_model_len
                 and not self.chunked_prefill_enabled):
             raise ValueError(
@@ -2263,6 +2262,8 @@ class SchedulerConfig:
                 "must be greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to "
                 f"max_num_partial_prefills ({self.max_num_partial_prefills}).")
 
+        return self
+
     @property
     def is_multi_step(self) -> bool:
         return self.num_scheduler_steps > 1
@@ -2669,8 +2670,6 @@ class SpeculativeConfig:
             if self.posterior_alpha is None:
                 self.posterior_alpha = 0.3
 
-        self._verify_args()
-
     @staticmethod
     def _maybe_override_draft_max_model_len(
         speculative_max_model_len: Optional[int],
@@ -2761,7 +2760,8 @@ class SpeculativeConfig:
 
         return draft_parallel_config
 
-    def _verify_args(self) -> None:
+    @model_validator(mode='after')
+    def _verify_args(self) -> Self:
         if self.num_speculative_tokens is None:
             raise ValueError(
                 "num_speculative_tokens must be provided with "
@@ -2812,6 +2812,8 @@ class SpeculativeConfig:
                 "Eagle3 is only supported for Llama models. "
                 f"Got {self.target_model_config.hf_text_config.model_type=}")
 
+        return self
+
     @property
     def num_lookahead_slots(self) -> int:
         """The number of additional slots the scheduler should allocate per
diff --git a/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py b/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py
index bffc8ba8c9..dd09f51490 100644
--- a/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py
+++ b/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
 
 # yapf: disable
 import argparse
+import copy
 import dataclasses
+import functools
 import json
 import sys
 import threading
@@ -168,7 +170,8 @@ def get_type_hints(type_hint: TypeHint) -> set[TypeHint]:
     return type_hints
 
 
-def get_kwargs(cls: ConfigType) -> dict[str, Any]:
+@functools.lru_cache(maxsize=30)
+def _compute_kwargs(cls: ConfigType) -> dict[str, Any]:
     cls_docs = get_attr_docs(cls)
     kwargs = {}
     for field in fields(cls):
@@ -269,6 +272,16 @@ def get_kwargs(cls: ConfigType) -> dict[str, Any]:
     return kwargs
 
 
+def get_kwargs(cls: ConfigType) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Return argparse kwargs for the given Config dataclass.
+
+    The heavy computation is cached via functools.lru_cache, and a deep copy
+    is returned so callers can mutate the dictionary without affecting the
+    cached version.
+    """
+    return copy.deepcopy(_compute_kwargs(cls))
+
+
 @dataclass
 class EngineArgs:
     """Arguments for vLLM engine."""
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/benchmark/main.py b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/benchmark/main.py
index fdc5a047f6..8904a2468b 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/benchmark/main.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/benchmark/main.py
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
 import argparse
+import typing
 
 from vllm.entrypoints.cli.benchmark.base import BenchmarkSubcommandBase
 from vllm.entrypoints.cli.types import CLISubcommand
-from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
+
+if typing.TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
 
 
 class BenchmarkSubcommand(CLISubcommand):
@@ -23,7 +29,6 @@ class BenchmarkSubcommand(CLISubcommand):
     def subparser_init(
             self,
             subparsers: argparse._SubParsersAction) -> FlexibleArgumentParser:
-
         bench_parser = subparsers.add_parser(
             self.name,
             help=self.help,
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/collect_env.py b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/collect_env.py
index 141aafdb1a..785c18812a 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/collect_env.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/collect_env.py
@@ -1,19 +1,21 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
 
+from __future__ import annotations
+
 import argparse
+import typing
 
 from vllm.collect_env import main as collect_env_main
 from vllm.entrypoints.cli.types import CLISubcommand
-from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
+
+if typing.TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
 
 
 class CollectEnvSubcommand(CLISubcommand):
     """The `collect-env` subcommand for the vLLM CLI. """
-
-    def __init__(self):
-        self.name = "collect-env"
-        super().__init__()
+    name = "collect-env"
 
     @staticmethod
     def cmd(args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
@@ -23,12 +25,11 @@ class CollectEnvSubcommand(CLISubcommand):
     def subparser_init(
             self,
             subparsers: argparse._SubParsersAction) -> FlexibleArgumentParser:
-        collect_env_parser = subparsers.add_parser(
+        return subparsers.add_parser(
             "collect-env",
             help="Start collecting environment information.",
             description="Start collecting environment information.",
             usage="vllm collect-env")
-        return collect_env_parser
 
 
 def cmd_init() -> list[CLISubcommand]:
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/main.py b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/main.py
index 9bb1162e38..3e09d45b2e 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/main.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/main.py
@@ -1,27 +1,15 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
+'''The CLI entrypoints of vLLM
 
-# The CLI entrypoint to vLLM.
+Note that all future modules must be lazily loaded within main
+to avoid certain eager import breakage.'''
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import importlib.metadata
 import signal
 import sys
 
-import vllm.entrypoints.cli.benchmark.main
-import vllm.entrypoints.cli.collect_env
-import vllm.entrypoints.cli.openai
-import vllm.entrypoints.cli.run_batch
-import vllm.entrypoints.cli.serve
-import vllm.version
-from vllm.entrypoints.utils import VLLM_SUBCMD_PARSER_EPILOG, cli_env_setup
-from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
-
-CMD_MODULES = [
-    vllm.entrypoints.cli.openai,
-    vllm.entrypoints.cli.serve,
-    vllm.entrypoints.cli.benchmark.main,
-    vllm.entrypoints.cli.collect_env,
-    vllm.entrypoints.cli.run_batch,
-]
-
 
 def register_signal_handlers():
 
@@ -33,16 +21,34 @@ def register_signal_handlers():
 
 
 def main():
+    import vllm.entrypoints.cli.benchmark.main
+    import vllm.entrypoints.cli.collect_env
+    import vllm.entrypoints.cli.openai
+    import vllm.entrypoints.cli.run_batch
+    import vllm.entrypoints.cli.serve
+    from vllm.entrypoints.utils import VLLM_SUBCMD_PARSER_EPILOG, cli_env_setup
+    from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
+
+    CMD_MODULES = [
+        vllm.entrypoints.cli.openai,
+        vllm.entrypoints.cli.serve,
+        vllm.entrypoints.cli.benchmark.main,
+        vllm.entrypoints.cli.collect_env,
+        vllm.entrypoints.cli.run_batch,
+    ]
+
     cli_env_setup()
 
     parser = FlexibleArgumentParser(
         description="vLLM CLI",
         epilog=VLLM_SUBCMD_PARSER_EPILOG,
     )
-    parser.add_argument('-v',
-                        '--version',
-                        action='version',
-                        version=vllm.version.__version__)
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '-v',
+        '--version',
+        action='version',
+        version=importlib.metadata.version('vllm'),
+    )
     subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(required=False, dest="subparser")
     cmds = {}
     for cmd_module in CMD_MODULES:
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/openai.py b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/openai.py
index 58dcdfe217..5ddaee5b52 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/openai.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/openai.py
@@ -1,18 +1,21 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
-# Commands that act as an interactive OpenAI API client
+
+from __future__ import annotations
 
 import argparse
 import os
 import signal
 import sys
-from typing import Optional
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
 from openai import OpenAI
 from openai.types.chat import ChatCompletionMessageParam
 
 from vllm.entrypoints.cli.types import CLISubcommand
-from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
 
 
 def _register_signal_handlers():
@@ -42,8 +45,7 @@ def _interactive_cli(args: argparse.Namespace) -> tuple[str, OpenAI]:
     return model_name, openai_client
 
 
-def chat(system_prompt: Optional[str], model_name: str,
-         client: OpenAI) -> None:
+def chat(system_prompt: str | None, model_name: str, client: OpenAI) -> None:
     conversation: list[ChatCompletionMessageParam] = []
     if system_prompt is not None:
         conversation.append({"role": "system", "content": system_prompt})
@@ -92,10 +94,7 @@ def _add_query_options(
 
 class ChatCommand(CLISubcommand):
     """The `chat` subcommand for the vLLM CLI. """
-
-    def __init__(self):
-        self.name = "chat"
-        super().__init__()
+    name = "chat"
 
     @staticmethod
     def cmd(args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
@@ -157,10 +156,7 @@ class ChatCommand(CLISubcommand):
 
 class CompleteCommand(CLISubcommand):
     """The `complete` subcommand for the vLLM CLI. """
-
-    def __init__(self):
-        self.name = "complete"
-        super().__init__()
+    name = 'complete'
 
     @staticmethod
     def cmd(args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/run_batch.py b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/run_batch.py
index 6bdd3b63c2..61a34cbc39 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/run_batch.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/run_batch.py
@@ -1,37 +1,42 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
 
+from __future__ import annotations
+
 import argparse
 import asyncio
-
-from prometheus_client import start_http_server
+import importlib.metadata
+import typing
 
 from vllm.entrypoints.cli.types import CLISubcommand
-from vllm.entrypoints.logger import logger
-from vllm.entrypoints.openai.run_batch import main as run_batch_main
-from vllm.entrypoints.openai.run_batch import make_arg_parser
 from vllm.entrypoints.utils import (VLLM_SUBCMD_PARSER_EPILOG,
                                     show_filtered_argument_or_group_from_help)
-from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
-from vllm.version import __version__ as VLLM_VERSION
+from vllm.logger import init_logger
+
+if typing.TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
+
+logger = init_logger(__name__)
 
 
 class RunBatchSubcommand(CLISubcommand):
     """The `run-batch` subcommand for vLLM CLI."""
-
-    def __init__(self):
-        self.name = "run-batch"
-        super().__init__()
+    name = "run-batch"
 
     @staticmethod
     def cmd(args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
-        logger.info("vLLM batch processing API version %s", VLLM_VERSION)
+        from vllm.entrypoints.openai.run_batch import main as run_batch_main
+
+        logger.info("vLLM batch processing API version %s",
+                    importlib.metadata.version("vllm"))
         logger.info("args: %s", args)
 
         # Start the Prometheus metrics server.
         # LLMEngine uses the Prometheus client
         # to publish metrics at the /metrics endpoint.
         if args.enable_metrics:
+            from prometheus_client import start_http_server
+
             logger.info("Prometheus metrics enabled")
             start_http_server(port=args.port, addr=args.url)
         else:
@@ -42,6 +47,8 @@ class RunBatchSubcommand(CLISubcommand):
     def subparser_init(
             self,
             subparsers: argparse._SubParsersAction) -> FlexibleArgumentParser:
+        from vllm.entrypoints.openai.run_batch import make_arg_parser
+
         run_batch_parser = subparsers.add_parser(
             "run-batch",
             help="Run batch prompts and write results to file.",
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/serve.py b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/serve.py
index 9040877a42..897c222a3f 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/serve.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/serve.py
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ import sys
 import uvloop
 import zmq
 
+import vllm
 import vllm.envs as envs
-from vllm import AsyncEngineArgs
 from vllm.entrypoints.cli.types import CLISubcommand
 from vllm.entrypoints.openai.api_server import (run_server, run_server_worker,
                                                 setup_server)
@@ -38,10 +38,7 @@ logger = init_logger(__name__)
 
 class ServeSubcommand(CLISubcommand):
     """The `serve` subcommand for the vLLM CLI. """
-
-    def __init__(self):
-        self.name = "serve"
-        super().__init__()
+    name = "serve"
 
     @staticmethod
     def cmd(args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
@@ -115,7 +112,7 @@ def run_headless(args: argparse.Namespace):
         raise ValueError("api_server_count can't be set in headless mode")
 
     # Create the EngineConfig.
-    engine_args = AsyncEngineArgs.from_cli_args(args)
+    engine_args = vllm.AsyncEngineArgs.from_cli_args(args)
     usage_context = UsageContext.OPENAI_API_SERVER
     vllm_config = engine_args.create_engine_config(usage_context=usage_context)
 
@@ -175,7 +172,7 @@ def run_multi_api_server(args: argparse.Namespace):
 
     listen_address, sock = setup_server(args)
 
-    engine_args = AsyncEngineArgs.from_cli_args(args)
+    engine_args = vllm.AsyncEngineArgs.from_cli_args(args)
     usage_context = UsageContext.OPENAI_API_SERVER
     vllm_config = engine_args.create_engine_config(usage_context=usage_context)
     model_config = vllm_config.model_config
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/types.py b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/types.py
index 0a72443129..b88f094b30 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/cli/types.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/cli/types.py
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
 
-import argparse
+from __future__ import annotations
 
-from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
+import argparse
+import typing
+
+if typing.TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
 
 
 class CLISubcommand:
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/openai/run_batch.py b/vllm/entrypoints/openai/run_batch.py
index 9994b3cae8..29740fc7e6 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/openai/run_batch.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/openai/run_batch.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ from tqdm import tqdm
 
 from vllm.engine.arg_utils import AsyncEngineArgs, optional_type
 from vllm.engine.async_llm_engine import AsyncLLMEngine
-from vllm.entrypoints.logger import RequestLogger, logger
+from vllm.entrypoints.logger import RequestLogger
 # yapf: disable
 from vllm.entrypoints.openai.protocol import (BatchRequestInput,
                                               BatchRequestOutput,
@@ -29,10 +29,13 @@ from vllm.entrypoints.openai.serving_embedding import OpenAIServingEmbedding
 from vllm.entrypoints.openai.serving_models import (BaseModelPath,
                                                     OpenAIServingModels)
 from vllm.entrypoints.openai.serving_score import ServingScores
+from vllm.logger import init_logger
 from vllm.usage.usage_lib import UsageContext
 from vllm.utils import FlexibleArgumentParser, random_uuid
 from vllm.version import __version__ as VLLM_VERSION
 
+logger = init_logger(__name__)
+
 
 def make_arg_parser(parser: FlexibleArgumentParser):
     parser.add_argument(
@@ -201,13 +204,16 @@ async def upload_data(output_url: str, data_or_file: str,
         except Exception as e:
             if attempt < max_retries:
                 logger.error(
-                    f"Failed to upload data (attempt {attempt}). "
-                    f"Error message: {str(e)}.\nRetrying in {delay} seconds..."
+                    "Failed to upload data (attempt %d). Error message: %s.\nRetrying in %d seconds...",  # noqa: E501
+                    attempt,
+                    e,
+                    delay,
                 )
                 await asyncio.sleep(delay)
             else:
-                raise Exception(f"Failed to upload data (attempt {attempt}). "
-                                f"Error message: {str(e)}.") from e
+                raise Exception(
+                    f"Failed to upload data (attempt {attempt}). Error message: {str(e)}."  # noqa: E501
+                ) from e
 
 
 async def write_file(path_or_url: str, batch_outputs: list[BatchRequestOutput],
diff --git a/vllm/utils.py b/vllm/utils.py
index dc408e1676..34be4d52c4 100644
--- a/vllm/utils.py
+++ b/vllm/utils.py
@@ -67,9 +67,6 @@ from torch.library import Library
 from typing_extensions import Never, ParamSpec, TypeIs, assert_never
 
 import vllm.envs as envs
-# NOTE: import triton_utils to make TritonPlaceholderModule work
-#       if triton is unavailable
-import vllm.triton_utils  # noqa: F401
 from vllm.logger import enable_trace_function_call, init_logger
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING: